Pandemic Diary — February 1 to 7

(Türkce versiyonunu görmek için aşağı kaydırın.)

Monday, February 1   Deaths  1,958 (+1)   New cases  964

Rain all day long. M went to the dentist and got the crown put on his implant, the final step in a 10-month process. Whew. We won’t go into details, but M is amazed that it worked at all. He returned from the dentist to find E on her knees weeding in the front yard in the pouring rain. After lunch E went for a medical appointment in Salem. Did M then go out and do more weeding in the pouring rain? No.  

Tuesday, February 2   Deaths  1,981 (+23)   New cases  619

After a long hiatus, E has resurrected her bird feeder and hung it in the apple tree outside the study window. The larger birds don’t use it much, but it’s fun to watch the chickadees, juncos, and goldfinches from the study. Unfortunately, a couple of birds have flown into the window–thunk. That’s not so pleasant. So we needed warning decals, the kind that reflect ultraviolet light, which birds can see but we can’t. After exercise class, a medical appointment, and lunch from Taco Time, E managed to get down to the bird shop, buy what she needed, and then apply the decals to the window, finishing all this just before the rains came back. 

M got out in the sun for an hour or two, working on his paver project. He says he made real progress, it needs just a few final touches. 

After all this, it was time for a walk, which turned out to be a walk in the rain, a steady rain accompanied by a noticeably cold wind out of the west. Back inside where it was warm, M served up lemon pepper salmon, plain couscous, and asparagus. The clientele at our exclusive restaurant, i.e. M & E were pleased.

Wednesday, February 3   Deaths  1,991 (+10)   New cases  649

Went to the garden center today. E got wooly thyme and a snowberry bush. M got asparagus. Did E know why she was buying wooly thyme and a snowberry bush because she had thought carefully about why she wanted them? Yes. Did M buy asparagus crowns on impulse? Of course. Was he looking forward to eating some homegrown asparagus this spring? He probably was. Did he do some basic research about asparagus when he got home? Yes. Did he find out that you’re not supposed to harvest asparagus for the first two years? He probably did. 

Thursday, February 4   Deaths  1,998 (+7)   New cases  730

It seems that vaccinations are really starting to get going as we get into February. The state says that about 510,000 doses have been administered. And we personally are hearing about more and more people who either have had shots or have gotten appointments for shots. Not surprisingly, they all seem relieved and happy. That’s fine of course, but what about us? We’re left to grumble.

One thing many are grumbling about is the fact that there is queue jumping going on. That is, people who are supposedly not eligible for vaccines are getting vaccinated anyway. We’ve looked into the sign up process here in our area and it looks to be a sort of honor system. The way it works is that you fill out a questionnaire–on Survey Monkey–and if you give the right answers, you can schedule an appointment. But what are the right answers, really? Are they the ones that you know will get you an appointment? Or are they the ones that accurately describe your situation? There are two world views in conflict here. It’s easy to understand why no one wants to get into the business of checking to see who’s telling the truth and who isn’t. And in the big picture, the more people who are vaccinated–whoever they are–the better off we all will be. Still, when someone that you can’t help suspecting of cheating gets their picture in the paper as part of an article celebrating and promoting the program, that’s annoying.

Something else that’s happening as we get into February is that we start thinking about Valentine’s Day. For E that means getting the box collection out from its home in the top of the garage. The collection stretches back twenty years or so. The prettiest boxes are from Burst’s in Corvallis…

…but the tallish one center left is also a favorite. It’s from Elizinn in Ankara. We also have boxes from Thailand, Mexico and Cyprus.

Friday, February 5   Deaths  2,002 (+4)   New cases  846

Not a real nice weather day, but we did some garden work anyway. E finished planting her wooly thyme. Our neighbor gave us a whole bunch of Dutch iris bulbs and Michael worked on separating them out. It was a wonderful gift, dozens and dozens of small teardrop shaped bulbs. Later we walked over to see H and return her big soup pot. We had a nice socially distanced talk in her back yard. She seems to be doing pretty well. Her grandson recently strung up some lights for her out on her covered patio. They are those bright orange chili pepper shaped lights. Go H! On the way home we met M, a colleague from our teaching days. That was also fun. As for social distancing, it was a situation where she was on one side of the street and we were on ours. That should work.

Saturday, February 6   Deaths  2,019 (+1)   New cases  624

A typical Saturday. E went out the country to take dog Pepper for a walk and then did a bunch of errands. M planted irises and then spent some time reading a history of Oregon State University.

So far, M has been reading about the period from 1880 to 1939. In those days OSU was called OAC, the Oregon Agricultural College. In 1931 the cost to attend OAC was $77 a year for tuition and fees, plus $225-350 for room and board, depending on the level of accommodation. The College President was William Jasper Kerr, who had previously worked as an educator in Utah. He was a former polygamist who had to officially divest himself of his second wife before he could be approved for the Corvallis job. He is, of course, the Kerr of the Kerr Administration Building, and was formerly the Kerr of Kerr Library, back when there was a Kerr Library. Many other names that will be familiar to OSU people are from the pre-WW2 era, including Margaret Comstock Snell, the first female professor at OAC; Grant Covell, OAC’s first engineering professor; and Ida Angeline Kidder, OAC’s first professional librarian.

Sunday, February 7   Deaths  2,023 (+4)   New cases  393

Nice day for a walk in the woods. To avoid weekend crowds we went to a somewhat obscure corner of the OSU forest. We went about four miles in total, part of it following a little stream up to where a road dead ends at an old washout. It rained on us a little, but it was more sunny than not. 

In the afternoon, E did another Zoom meeting with brothers J and J. In South Carolina John has gotten a first dose of vaccine with a second scheduled for Feb. 25th. In New York Jim has an appointment for a first dose on February 20th. To get it, he’ll have to drive from Clifton Park to Utica, 102 miles away. 

Here in Oregon, daily COVID fatalities and new case numbers are encouraging– considerably below the record highs of the first half of January. 

Pandemi Günlüğü — 1-7 Şubat

Pazartesi, 1 Şubat        Oregon’daki ölümler: 1,598 (+1)  Yeni vakalar: 964

Bütün gün yağmur yağdı. M dişçiye gitti. İmplantı için son adımdı. Sonunda, on ay sonra! Dişçiden döndüğünde, Eve’in yağmurda bahçede çalıştığını gördü.

Öğle yemeğinden sonra E tıbbi bir randevuya gitti. M daha sonra dışarı çıkıp yağan yağmurda çalıştı mı? Hayır, o deli değil.

Salı, 2 Şubat        Oregon’daki ölümler: 1,981 (+23)  Yeni vakalar: 619

E kuşyemliğini elma ağacına koydu. Şimdi pencereden bülbül, junko ve ispinozları izleyebiliriz. 

Penceredeki gri şekil ultraviyole ışığı yansıtır. Kuşlar ultraviyole ışığa duyarlıdır ve bu şekil onları pencereden uçmamaları konusunda uyarır.

M yürüme yolu projesi üzerinde çalıştı. Neredeyse bittiğini söylüyor. Sadece birkaç son dokunuşa ihtiyacı var.

Daha sonra soğuk yağmurda yürüyüşe çıktık. Eve döndükten sonra M akşam yemeği pişirdi: limon biberli somon, kuskus ve kuşkonmaz. 

Çarşamba, 3 Şubat        Oregon’daki ölümler: 1,xxx (+1)  Yeni vakalar: xxx

Bu gün bahçe merkezine gittik. E yünlü kekik ve kar üzümü satın aldı. M kuşkonmaz satın aldı. E dikkatlice planladı mı? Evet. M dürtüden mi satın aldı? Elbette. M birkaç ay içinde evde yetişen taze kuşkonmaz mı düşünüyordu? Muhtemelen. M kuşkonmaz yetiştirmenin iki ya da üç yıl sürdüğünü öğrendi mi? Elbette. 

Perşembe, 4 Şubat        Oregon’daki ölümler: 1,998 (+7)  Yeni vakalar: 730

Oregon’da şu ana kadar yaklaşık 510.000 doz aşı yapıldı. Aşılanmış birkaç kişi tanıyoruz. Rahatladılar ve mutlular. 

Şubat başlarken Sevgililer Gününü düşünmemiz gerekiyor. E için kutu koleksiyonunu gösterme zamanı. Güzel kutuların çoğu Corvallis’teki Bursts’tan ancak ortadaki uzun koyu kırmızı kutu da favorilerimizden. Ankara’daki Elizinn’dendir.

Cuma, 5 Şubat        Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,002 (+4)  Yeni vakalar: 846

Hava biraz soğuk ve biraz ıslaktı ama yine de bahçede çalıştık. E onun yünlü kekik bitkilerini dikti. Komşumuz bize çok sayıda Hollanda iris soğanı verdi. Harika! M onları hazırlamaya çalıştı. Daha sonra arkadaşımız H’yi ziyaret ettik. Verandasında yeni turuncu acı biber ışıkları olduğu için mutlu.    

Cumartesi, 6 Şubat        Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,019 (+1)  Yeni vakalar: 624

Tipik bir cumartesi. E köpek arkardaşı Pepper’ı ziyaret etti ve onunla birlikte yürüdü. M biraz iris dikti ve Oregon Eyalet Üniversitesi ile ilgili bir kitapta bazı bölümleri okudu. 1880’den 1939’a kadar olan dönemi okudu. 1931’de bir yıllık öğrenim ücreti 77$. Yemek ve konaklama 225-350$. Üniversitenin ilk başkanlarından biri olan William Jasper Kerr, Utah’lı eski bir çok eşli idi. Oregon’da çalışabilmek için ikinci karısından boşanmak zorunda kaldı. 

Pazar, 7 Şubat        Oregon’daki ölümler: 2,023 (+4)  Yeni vakalar: 393

Bugün ormanda yürüyüş için güzel bir gün. Dört mil yürüdük. 

Öğleden sonra E’nin kardeşleriyle Zoom’da konuştuk. Güney Carolina’da John ilk aşı dozunu aldı. Ayın sonunda ikinci bir doz alacak. New York eyaletinde Jim’in 20 şubat için bir aşı randevusu var. Burada tabii ki henüz randevumuz yok. Ama en azından Oregon COVID istatistikleri eskisi kadar kötü değil. Pandemi Günlüğü önümüzdeki hafta yeni bir grafik yayınlayacak.